TV Review: Awkward. (5×10) “Reality Does Not Bite”

Prom night, continued: Jenna officially takes her leave after a candle almost sends her up in flames. Of course, Matty arrives to tell her he loves her just after that. Thus begins an episode full of missed connections. Jenna returns home crying, making Lacey upset that Jenna wasted her prom queen opportunity and Lacey’s chance to live vicariously through her. Jenna bitches Lacey out, in the right for once about this not being about Lacey, and shuts her phone off for the night. The two quickly make up and Lacey convinces Jenna that she can’t just miss out on things because they’re not perfect. Jenna returns to the dance, missing Matty by about three seconds two different times.

Tamara and Adam are thrilled to be back together. “I kinda like not being engaged anymore. I feel like I can be disrespectful. In a hot way,” Adam explains as they slow dance. I already don’t like what’s happening here, but I’m about to like it even less. “Like you’ve been holding back this whole time and what you’ve really wanted to do was rip my clothes off and treat me like a cheap whore? I love that,” Tamara responds. There are so many things wrong here, my brain can’t process. They end up blissfully hooking up in a party bathroom.

Jake is still rotating through dances with all of Gabby’s friends. He’s interrupted when Gabby walks up and slaps one of them, scaring her off. The former couple dances together and does some real talk: the reason that Gabby freaked out about what Jake was doing is that she didn’t know what the two of them were going to do the following year. She didn’t want to go to Stanford with a boyfriend. Jake also wanted to break up, but didn’t want to be the one to do it. They continue happily dancing, impressed with themselves for how calmly they handled that.

Sadie continues her night of good deeds by cleaning up her classmates’ abandoned liquor bottles. She gets busted, leading a teacher to search her purse and find her flask. Thanks to the high school’s zero tolerance for alcohol policy, Sadie is now banned from walking at graduation, despite being valedictorian.

Prom court announcements: Heather Leeds is named Prom Queen and Matty names Kyle Prom King, despite it actually being his title. During the prom court dance, Matty cuts in on Jenna to tell her he loves her–that he always has and always will. Jenna says nothing–apparently she thinks that they’ve hurt each other too much. Have I mentioned recently that I cannot stand Jenna Hamilton anymore? I’m talking Sadie levels of despising her. Considering how much that girl talks about loving Matty, the fact that there was any hesitation was RIDICULOUS. Anyway, Matty doesn’t need an answer, but she bolts after him to tell him that she too loves him. They kiss, leading to a dance montage with Sadie crying outside.

I’m not going to lie: Awkward.’s prom episodes were everything that they should have been. I could have done without the Matty/Jenna missed moments scenes, but overall they were pretty solid episodes. We had two reunions, one friendship coming out of a break up, and a throwback to Donna Martin’s boozy prom punishment on Sadie’s part (though Sadie handled herself better than Donna ever did). It looks like next week they’re going to throwback to Beverly Hills, 90210 again with fighting for Sadie’s graduation. But will there be a “Sadie Saxton graduates” chant??

Episode Rating: 7/10.

Bri is a 25-year-old born and raised in the swamps of Jersey. Just kidding, she lives at least twenty minutes from those swamps. She’s a publishing professional that moonlights as a writer. She enjoys going to concerts (anything from Rooney to Springsteen to NKOTBSB), roadtripping, and complaining that she truly belongs in the 1950’s, the 1920′s, or the 1980′s depending on her mood. She definitely owns more books than she should and reads every chance she gets. If you stop hearing from her, it’s because the book piles have fallen over and smothered her to death in the night. You can contact her at bri@theyoungfolks.com.
Twitter: @bri_lockhart